In recent years, we have seen the emergence in Jerusalem of an important new Torah teaching and research center: Yad HaRav Nissim, established in memory of the late Rishon LeTzion Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim.
Rabbi Nissim, who was born in Bagdad, settled in Jerusalem in 1925. In 1955 He was chosen Rishon Letzion and served in that capacity for 18 years.
A great halachic authority, not only was he the rabbinic leader of the Jews of Israel, but he also addressed himself to halachic problems submitted to him by Jewish communities of the Diaspora.
He travelled throughout the country, reaching out to fellow Jews who had strayed from the path of tradition.
He was a kind and friendly man whose house was open to all, but was uncompromising and strong minded when the occasion demanded it.
His proud refusal to meet the Pope when the latter visited Israel was born of a deep Jewish historical feeling and awareness. So was his decision after the Six Day War to transfer the High Rabbinical Court to a building near the Temple area.
My wife and I will always cherish the hours we spent in his hospitable home.
Rabbi Nissim died on Tisha Be’Av 5741 (1981) at the age of 81.
The establishment of Yad HaRav Nissim was supported by prominent rabbinical and lay leaders, including the then Prime Minister Menahem Begin.
The center comprises a variety of institutions.
The Beth HaMidrash founded by Rabbi Nissim in 1955 trains rabbis and dayanim for both Israel and the Diaspora. A special division prepares graduates of Hesder Yeshivot for the rabbinate.
A large library and beautiful reading room are open to the public five days a week. The late Rabbi Nissim was a great bibliophile and the owner of a very precious library. His widow presented his books to ad HaRav Nissim. The center has also come into the possession of the book treasures of other great Sefardi rabbis as well as of book collections from Gibraltar, Romania and other places.
Tarbiz, a public forum, offers courses and lectures, presented by scholars and experts in their respective fields, have been an outstanding success. Before long the auditorium proved too small for the overflow audience. A new spacious lecture hall is now under construction.
Only some of the large number of lectures offered can be mentioned here: “Jerusalem throughout the Ages,” “The Sanctity of the Temple Mount,” “Halakah and Medicine”, Halacha and Economic,” “The Jewish Calendar” and “Purim in Art and Folklore.”
Special assemblies were held on the occasion of the 850th anniversary of the brith of Maimonides and the 500th anniversary of the birth of rabbi Joseph Karo.
Tarbitz is operated by Yad HaRav Nissim in cooperation with the Torah Culture Departments of the Ministry of Education and the Jerusalem municipality.
The center’s publishing house has put out an impressive number of books. These include a series of six miscellanies in memory of Rabbi Nissim containing 70 scholarly contributions, the annual Assifot — three volumes of which have appeared thus far– featuring important essays and rabbinical writings printed from manuscripts. The center has also published limited editions of bibliophile reproductions of rare books, such as the first prints of the responsa of R. David Kohen of Corfu and of the responsa Binyamin Ze’ev Each book of the bibliophile carries a detailed introduction about the author and his work. In preparation is a reproduction of the extremely rare Aleppo Siddur.
Yad HaRav Nissim is planning the establishment of two more institutes, : one devoted to the study of prayer, the other to the study of Jewish law.
Services are held daily at the center’s beautiful synagogue. Professor Benayahu, one of Israel’s leading historians and a son of Rabbi Nissim, who is the editor of Yad Harav Nissim’s publications, told me that the exquisite Parokhet, whivh adorns the synagogues, heikhal was made from the veil his mother used to wear when she still lived in Baghdad.
I hesitated when i was first invited to attend Chol HaMoed morning services at ad HaRav Nissim. They start at 6 a.m.– a little too early for me. However, when I learned who was to lead the congregations for Hoshanot and mussaf, I readily accepted.
Friends of mine, who know that I am not a great mavin on Chazzanut will certainly smile when they read these lines. I am the last person they would expect to rise early to hear a Chazzan. They probably would be right, but they don’t know the whole story.
I enjoyed the Chazzan. I was told that the man was a great expert in the Nussach of his community. He leads the congregation also on the High holidays, and sounds the shofar as well.
His name is Moshe Nissim. Another son of the late Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim and a brother of Meir Benayahu, he serves as Chazzzan at Yad Harav Nissim in an honorary capacity. Chazzanut is not his profession. His main interests are in a different field. A member of the Knesset since the 1950s, he has held various ministerial posts. He is now Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of industry and Trade.
It was indeed, worthwhile to rise early. It was an experience to hear and see the Deputy Prime Minister of Israel stand on the reader’s platform. The scene was symbolic of the great change that Israel’s spiritual life had undergone since Likud headed by Begin, broke the hegemony of the leftist parties. Once, we had ministers to whom the “First of May” was more important that the Jewish holy days. Now we have a Deputy Premier who leads Jews in their festival prayers.
The Jewish Press, Friday, November 9. 1990